Big Data Genomics Firm Bina Raises $6M

Big Data marketing and analytics companies aren't the only ones soaking up the VC funds.

Bina Technologies, a Redwood City, Calif.-based Big Data genomics firm, says it has attracted $6.25 million in a round of Series B funding led by Sierra Ventures. And there's more on the horizon, hinted the startup.

"The company will be raising additional investment from a strategic life sciences investor to close out the round in the coming months," said the company in press remarks.

Founded by Stanford and Berkeley scientists in 2011, the startup has created a Big Data science platform for genomic analysis. Combined with high-performance computing resources, the company's technology reduces the time and expense associated with processing raw genetic data, accelerating the pursuit of personalized medicine for doctors and medical researchers.

In response to growing demand --- and with the new funding in hand -- the company plans to more than double its headcount by growing its development, marketing, sales and support teams. The money will also help fund product development initiatives.

Big opportunities await at the crossroads between DNA analysis and Big Data, according to Sierra Ventures managing director Tim Guleri.

"In the immediate future, the $15 billion genomic research industry is ripe for solutions like Bina, which allow for powerful and scalable genomic analysis. Vertical-specific applications of Big Data, such as what Bina is doing in health care, is how the real value of Big Data will ultimately be realized and revolutionize the $100 billion health care market," said Guleri in a statement.

It's a view shared by Bina CEO Narges Bani Asadi. "We believe the intersection of genomic analysis and Big Data is creating disruptive new technologies for mining valuable medical information in the enormous streams of genomic data being generated today," she said.

Bina's technology will help lower the barriers to medical innovations that are currently hidden in DNA, added Asadi. "Analyzing this kind of large-scale data has been too expensive or too technically difficult for researchers and clinicians until now. Our mission is to make large-scale genomic analysis more accurate, accessible and affordable for the entire medical community," she stated.

Bina used the opportunity to announce a customer win, the Genetics Department of Stanford University. The unit, headed by Dr. Michael Snyder, will use Bina's tech "to analyze several hundred whole human genomes, each in four hours or less, a task that previously took days to weeks to complete," announced the company.